How To Save A Life
by Fly-Girl222
Summary: DS9 & VOY Crossover, AU. When first hearing of Jadzia Dax’s death, Tom Paris was on Voyager, but with the help of an unlikely source, he might be able to save his friend’s life.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own _Deep Space Nine _or _Voyager_, Paramount does. But, this is my idea.

Author's Note: I've had this idea for a long time, I thought Jadzia Dax was one of the best Star Trek characters and her death upset me (the creators did a great job, but I was not too happy with her death). It was a dormant idea for a couple years, but once I heard The Fray's song "How To Save A Life", this song reignited the idea and here it is.

Summary: (DS9 & VOY Crossover, AU) When first hearing of Jadzia Dax's death, Tom Paris was on Voyager, but with the help of an unlikely source, he might be able to save his friend's life.

Rating: T (PG-13)

Timeline: _Deep Space Nine_: During the episode "Tears of the Prophets". _Voyager_: After the episode "Unforgettable" (season 4).

**How To Save A Life**

_**Voyager**_

Lieutenant Thomas Eugene Paris was in his quarters looking over some Helm reports. Tom was sitting at his desk and had his computer on so he could sporadically look to see if his girlfriend Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres had sent him a message. His eyes were beginning to strain and Tom was almost ready to call it a night. But then something happened; a video came up on Tom's computer.

The video shown was of his old friend, Jadzia Dax. She was pen pals with his older sister Moria and had visited their house on several occasions. Over time Tom Paris and Jadzia had become close friends. But this video was not of the old happy times of their youth.

Jadzia was saying something in a Bajoran shrine about a baby. Tom smiled after hearing some of the things Jadzia was saying about a baby, she might be pregnant! If Tom remembered correctly, she was on Deep Space Nine when they left and was probably still there. Suddenly in the video, the candles blew out and the lights darkened, Tom's smile disappeared knowing something was up. Behind Jadzia appeared Gul Dukat, his eyes were red and Jadzia responded to his presence by reaching for her phaser. But Dukat stopped her by shooting a beam out at her.

"NOOO!" Tom yelled at the screen. He knew that this probably wasn't real, but seeing a good friend die was never a happy experience.

Dukat's beam continued to hit Jadzia in the chest raising her above the floor. Soon it stopped and Jadzia fell lifelessly down to the ground. Tom was in shock and didn't pay attention to what happened next. Tom just stared at the screen and saw Dukat say something to Jadzia which outraged Tom. How could someone so evil not have been dead, yet?

Later on in the video, Jadzia was shown with her husband, Worf. She was almost dead and was saying how their baby would have looked beautiful. When she died, Tom felt anger and sadness, he was holding back tears. The video on his screen ended and the computer went blank again.

Tom's anger began to boil over. He stood up and grabbed the chair he was sitting in and threw it across the room. The chair hit a vase and that broke easily. Tom continued the destruction of his quarters throwing Padds and clothes on the floor. He soon was able to over turn the couch in his fit of anger.

"I didn't think you would get this upset, Tom." A voice said to Tom. That voice was easily recognized by Tom. Soon the voice appeared in its full 'human' form.

"Q!" Tom spat his name in anger. "You did this!"

"No, I just showed you what happened an hour ago." Q replied. "Dukat was the one that killed her."

"Why?" Tom asked. "Why did you show me this? What's wrong with you?"

"I just thought you might like the opportunity I'm going to give you." Q answered. "I want to offer you the chance of saving her life."

"What?" Tom asked. He couldn't believe it. Q was actually offering him a chance to save Jadzia's life and it was a _nice_ thing to do.

"I'll take you to Deep Space Nine; I'll let you try as many times to save her life as you want." Q responded. "So, will you take me up on this offer?"

Tom didn't even have to think about it. "Of course." Tom replied.

"Good. Now, let's go save a life." Q said. Q snapped his fingers.

_**

* * *

Deep Space Nine**_

Q and Tom appeared on Deep Space Nine's promenade. They walked to the Bajoran shrine and stood at the entrance. Tom didn't go in for a couple seconds not knowing if it was safe.

"I want to see it happen again." Tom said to Q. "If I'm going to save her, I'm going to need to know exactly what happened."

Q nodded and snapped his fingers again. They appeared in the shrine a few seconds before Dukat appeared. They were obviously invisible since Jadzia did not react to their sudden appearance.

"She isn't going to die, not on my watch." Tom muttered to himself. "Not while I'm here."

**

* * *

Author's Note: I know this is short, but I've already missed nearly an hour of the Super Bowl and it's a special one. I hope you enjoyed this little tidbit of the story. Thanks for reading so far.**


	2. Chapter 2

**How To Save A Life**- Chapter 2

_**Deep Space Nine**_

Tom had just watched Jadzia die for the second time in less than an hour. It was hard to see it again, but he knew he had to watch it so he could think over what he would have to do to try to save her. Q snapped his fingers and they went back in time five minutes before Jadzia walked into the shrine. Q snapped his fingers again making him invisible and Tom visible. Tom looked around and began to walk towards the Bajoran shrine where he knew Jadzia would come to. After walking there, Tom intercepted Jadzia on her way in.

"Don't go in there!" Tom said to Jadzia and ran up to her. Jadzia looked at him as if she had seen a ghost.

"Tom?" Jadzia asked. "Tom, is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me." Tom replied in a hurry. "You can't go in there."

"But Tom Paris is in the Delta Quadrant." Jadzia continued. She began to get angry; and she then tapped her comm. badge. "Dax to Odo, get down to the Bajoran shrine immediately, we have a security problem."

"What?" Tom asked in surprise. "Why'd you do that? I'm not _that_ dangerous…at least not anymore."

Several security officers and Odo ran up to Jadzia and Tom. Jadzia pointed towards Tom and told them to arrest him. Tom was in shock; his best friend for no reason was having him arrested.

"Why the hell are you arresting me?" Tom yelled as the security officers took him away towards the security cells.

"You're obviously a shapeshifter." Jadzia responded. She walked with the security teams and used the comm. line to get Doctor Bashir to join them in the security office.

After being thrown into one of the cells, Tom's blood was taken for examination. Just fifteen minutes later, Jadzia walked into Tom's holding cell and stood in front of him. The forcefield was down and Odo, Chief of Security, was waiting just outside the holding cell with his arms crossed.

"You're human." Jadzia stated though it was more like a question.

"Most people don't need to take my blood to figure that out." Tom replied sarcastically.

"Is it really you, Tom?" Jadzia asked.

"Yes, it's still me." Tom answered.

"Prove it." Jadzia said, still not believing him.

"When you came to visit my sister for the first time, we had a dog that jumped on you." Tom replied, though apparently that wasn't enough. "Her name was Serenity. I named her after one of my favorite movies."

Jadzia stared at Tom for a little bit longer not knowing to believe him or not. "Which old Earth movie did I introduce you and your sisters to?" Jadzia asked.

"_Rent_." Tom replied. "And I still hum the songs…"

"It's really you." Jadzia said in amazement. "I can't believe it."

"Well believe it." Tom responded. "Not that I don't love spending time here, but I want out."

At that moment Doctor Bashir, who was standing behind Odo, was called down to Sickbay. Bashir, Odo, Jadzia, and Tom left the Security Office and rushed towards Sickbay. Once they entered, a Bajoran was on the biobed being treated.

"Dukat…Dukat…" the man mumbled. "The Prophets have a…aband…abandoned us."

Tom stared at the man as walked back a couple steps. Saving Jadzia's life meant another person, an innocent, would die in her place. This had gotten more complicated then he imagined it would. The Doctor froze in place as did the others, as if someone had pushed pause on an old Earth remote.

"Shall we go back in time again, Tom?" Q asked as he appeared next to Tom.

"You never said that someone else would die in her place." Tom said to Q angrily.

"You never asked." Q replied. "Again?"

"Again." Tom mumbled.

_**

* * *

15 Years Earlier on Earth…**_

Jadzia was enrolling in Starfleet Academy and had arrived on Earth almost one month before the new semester began. She had come early to stay with a friend and her family that she had met via their school programs. The Paris family was a well known family in Starfleet and meeting them would be incredibly interesting.

Jadzia was met at the train terminal by one of the family members. Moria, her friend, was unable to come and instead sent her younger brother, Thomas Paris. Tom, 16, walked up to Jadzia smiling. Tom Paris was younger than her by only two years, but he was taller and…handsome. Though Jadzia would never admit it because of him being so close to a good friend of hers.

"You must be Jadzia." Tom said to her, holding out his hand for her to shake.

"Yes, that's me." Jadzia returned the smile and shook his hand, though she had to shuffle around some of her stuff to get a free hand.

"Here, let me take some of that." Tom offered to take some of her baggage. After giving him a couple bags, they boarded the train that would take them near the Paris household.

After a ten minute ride on the train and many interesting conversations, Tom and Jadzia walked into the house only to be greeted by a very excited golden retriever. The golden retriever jumped up with the front paws on Jadzia's stomach. Tom put a couple of Jadzia's bags on the floor and shooed the dog off of Jadzia. But that wasn't before the next dog, a German shepard, came running towards them.

"Sorry," Tom started trying to keep the new dog from jumping on Jadzia. "They get excited."

"It's alright, I love animals." Jadzia replied, she began to pet the golden retriever. "What are their names?"

"Well, the golden retriever is Serenity." Tom answered.

"How ironic." Jadzia muttered.

"Yeah, I named her after one of my favorite movies, but I didn't know she was going to be like this." Tom responded smiling. "And the German shepard is Bishop." Jadzia giggled at the name. "Why'd you laugh?"

"Oh no, nothing, it's just, the name Bishop reminds me of a movie I saw." Jadzia replied.

"_Alien _or _Aliens_?" Tom asked, though he knew she probably wouldn't get it.

Jadzia looked shocked at him. "I was thinking _Alien_ then _Aliens_." Jadzia replied. "The robot with the milk! You know that stuff?"

"Of course! You're talking to the king of old Earth movies." Tom added. "Those were amazing movies, I can't believe you've seen them!"

"Are you kidding?" Jadzia asked. "When I wasn't studying –which wasn't often- I watched old Earth movies because they were apparently very good."

"Wow, we are definitely going to have to talk about some of these movies!" Tom said. He grabbed some of her bags and motioned for her to follow. "You'll be sleeping in the guest bedroom which is on this level. Moria will be home in an hour and my mother will be home in half an hour. My father won't be home until next week, since he's on assignment. I'll help you get settled in your room."

"Thanks, this is going to be great!" Jadzia replied. She followed Tom to what would be her room for the next month. This was definitely going to be one interesting trip.

_**

* * *

Voyager**_

B'Elanna Torres walked onto the Bridge. She had been looking for her boyfriend Tom Paris and the computer had stated that he was not on board. She had gone to his quarters and they were in complete disarray as if he had been taken. But apparently Tom had put up a struggle.

"Captain, any luck?" B'Elanna asked with concern in her voice.

"Not yet, B'Elanna." The Captain replied. "Last person to see him was Harry and that was only an hour and a half ago."

"Have there been any ships in the area?" B'Elanna asked as though no one had thought of these ideas.

"None have been seen in the past two hours." Harry answered.

"We're trying the best we can, B'Elanna." The Captain reassured her. "We'll find him."


	3. Chapter 3

**How To Save A Life**- Chapter 3

Tom Paris had tried three more times to save Jadzia Dax's life, but had failed again and again. Either Jadzia died or someone else died when he tried to undo the horrible thing that happened. It had been almost three hours since Tom left Voyager and now he was beginning to wonder if they even knew if he was gone. He had gotten a new uniform to make sure he didn't stand out as he walked along the Promenade. Tom was up for another shot, this time; he would try harder than before. He made his way towards the Bajoran shrine and walked into it.

In front of the orb, Jadzia was thanking the Bajoran prophets. Tom ran up to her and grabbed her. He began to pull her out of the shrine, but she resisted.

"Jadzia, I don't have time to explain!" Tom said to her.

Jadzia stood up and stared at Tom. She was about to say something, but Gul Dukat transported himself into the shrine at that moment. Tom pushed Jadzia out of sight so Dukat could only see him instead. It was at that moment Dukat looked over at Tom and saw him standing there alone.

Tom was about to say something, but Dukat moved his hand and an orange reddish beam hit Tom. It lifted him off the ground and he was in mid-air in agonizing pain. After being suspended in mid-air for a few more seconds, Tom fell to the ground. Dukat went over to the orb and opened it. Jadzia stood up from where she was hiding and fired her phaser at Dukat. He turned around and was shot at again. Dukat tapped his arm and transported away, unable to finish what he had came here to do.

Jadzia went over to Tom and kneeled down next to him. She called for a medical team to her position and felt his pulse. He wasn't breathing and Jadzia began to panic. Even though the probability of this _actually_ being Tom was slim to none, she had to try and save him. She began to give him CPR, breathing into his mouth. She continued to do so until the medical help arrived.

_**

* * *

30 Minutes Later…**_

Tom slowly opened his eyes; he felt some pain, but not a lot. The person standing next to where he was laying stood up and came into his field of vision. Jadzia was leaning over him smiling at him.

"Hey." Tom said. It was all he could manage to say, he was beginning to feel very weak.

"Hey, Tom." Jadzia replied. "Are you in any pain?"

"No, only a little." Tom answered. "I'm dying, aren't I?"

"You're going to be just fine." Jadzia responded.

"You're lying." Tom whispered. "I know when you're lying, Dax."

Dax looked away for a little bit. "It's really you…" Jadzia whispered back to him. "You saved my life. I can't believe you're back and now…now you're leaving." Jadzia wiped away a stray tear on her face. "Don't die, Tom. Please don't die."

"I came to save you." Tom murmured; he wanted to close his eyes so badly. "I'm sorry." That was the last thing Tom said before he closed his eyes. Jadzia continued to cry over Tom's body.

"Congratulations, Tom." Q said as he appeared next to Tom on the biobed. Time had stopped and Tom was still laying on the biobed, though he was feeling much better. "You saved Jadzia and stopped Dukat from closing the wormhole."

"But I died." Tom added.

"True." Q replied smiling. "But you saved Jadzia, just what you wanted."

"But I died." Tom repeated.

"I'll give you a choice." Q started. "You can both die and let Jadzia live. Or, live and try again to save Jadzia."

"I don't want to die." Tom replied. "I don't want her to die either. But I don't want to die, at least not like this."

"Fine, let's go again." Q said.

Q snapped his fingers and he and Tom appeared on the Promenade. He looked around feeling better than he had half an hour ago, but now, now he had to try and fix it. No matter how much it hurt, he would try and try again to save Jadzia. Q was standing next to Tom smiling at him.

"Why are you so happy?" Tom asked with a hint of anger in his voice.

"I didn't expect you to take my offer." Q answered. "I actually expected you to let her live and sacrifice yourself."

"Sorry to disappoint." Tom muttered.

"Oh no, this is going to get more interesting now." Q smiled.

Tom looked at Q angrily and walked towards an empty or secluded place. Q followed him and once reaching the place, Tom turned around. He pushed Q against the wall and held him there.

"You think this is some kind of game?" Tom yelled anger evident in his voice. "Do you think that watching someone I care about die over and over is…is…is interesting?"

"Are you finished, yet?" Q asked, as if this didn't bother him.

"No, I'm not!" Tom responded. "Why won't you help me save her?"

"I am, I'm taking you back in time over and over, and I'm the one who gave you this chance!" Q answered. He was beginning to have some anger in his voice, too. Q pushed Tom's hands off of him. "If it weren't for me you wouldn't even be here!"

"Oh, gee, thanks!" Tom said sarcastically. "I'm so incredibly happy that you were able to let me watch Jadzia die over and over. I'm _so_ happy you're able to let me go through that."

"Don't patronize me, Paris!" Q yelled. "I gave you the chance to save someone you care about! Anyone of your people, of your universe would love to have this chance, but I didn't give it to them! I gave it to you! You arrogant fool! Right now you could be saving her or attempting to save her, but you aren't!"

"Why won't you help me then?" Tom asked. "You can save her, stop Dukat, and not let anyone die! If you want me to save her, then help me!"

"I can't!" Q replied. "I've already gone against the Q Tribunal enough already by bringing you here and showing you how Jadzia died. If I do anything else, I risk losing my Q powers…again."

"What the hell is a Q Tribunal?" Tom said, though it took him off-track from his point. "Wait, don't bother."

"Listen, Paris." Q started. "I'm helping you because I want to."

"I highly doubt that." Tom muttered.

"Fine, believe what you want." Q responded. "But I am going to help you."

"I can tell you have ulterior motives, Q." Tom replied. "I don't know what they are, but I'm betting it's something interesting. For now…I'm going to forget that you have those motives and I'm going to help my friend."


	4. Chapter 4

**How To Save A Life**- Chapter 4

Tom had gone through over fifty tries to save Jadzia. He had gone through almost all of the ideas in his head. He had died twelve times to save her; each time he died a horrible horrible death…every time at the hands of Dukat. Every time Tom tried, he just couldn't get Dukat to die and Jadzia to live.

Now Tom was at his wits end. He'd been up for almost 36 hours straight. And B'Elanna was probably freaking out because he wasn't there. Or maybe they didn't know he was gone.

"Do they know I'm gone?" Tom asked Q. They were standing near the windows on the upper level of the Promenade. "Voyager, do they know I'm gone?"

"Yes." Q answered. "They've been wondering, searching."

"I want them to know I'm okay, I want to go back for at least a couple hours." Tom said. "I need a break."

"If you go back, Paris, you lose your chance to save Jadzia." Q replied. "But I'll go to Voyager for you, tell them that you're okay. In the meantime you can go to Quark's Bar and take a break." Tom was about to protest, but Q snapped his fingers and was gone.

_**

* * *

Voyager**_

Captain Kathryn Janeway had been up for a long time, she didn't even rest. Tom had been gone for almost a day and they didn't know where he went. He had just disappeared and hadn't been seen or heard of since. There was no evidence of a struggle, invader, or any use of shuttles or transporters in the last three days. Then that raised the question, what the hell happened to him?

B'Elanna was another story. She had been up for almost 18 hours before Tom disappeared and had been awake the whole day to try and find him. B'Elanna had to be pulled, literally, out of Engineering by Chakotay just to eat. Now she was on the Bridge helping Harry try to find her boyfriend. As Janeway sat in the Captain's chair, Q appeared in a bright flash and in that moment, everything made sense.

"It was you!" B'Elanna yelled. Harry grabbed her, holding her back from running and tackling Q. "You took Tom away!!"

"Well, that wasn't the warm welcome I was expecting, but yes, you're right." Q replied smiling. Janeway got out from her chair and walked up to Q.

"Why?" Janeway demanded.

"Because he asked me to." Q answered. "See, I just happened to show him a friend of his dying and for some odd reason…he wanted to save _her_." Q tried to make B'Elanna jealous, he knew that she would worry about Tom gallivanting around the universe trying to save some girl, especially with his background.

"Who is 'she'?" B'Elanna asked.

"Jadzia Dax, some Trill Paris knew long ago." Q responded. "But that's not why I'm here. I'm here to tell you he's alive and to offer you something. I'm going to offer you the chance to keep an eye on Paris. I'm going to put what is happening on Deep Space Nine, where Tom is, on that viewscreen. You aren't going to run into anyone dangerous for a little bit, so you don't need the viewscreen that much, so why not make use of it? Everything he does, you will see, but you can't communicate with him and he won't know you're watching."

"Why are you doing this?" Janeway asked.

"Junior's getting boring and I'm feeling like a nice guy today." Q replied. "Even if you don't take the offer, I'm still going to put what's happening up on that viewscreen." There was silence. Q snapped his fingers and Tom appeared on the viewscreen at Quark's Bar with a glass of whiskey next to him.

_**

* * *

Deep Space Nine**_

"I still think you look familiar." Quark stated to Tom. Tom was sitting in front of Quark in one of the chairs. He had his uniform jacket open completely showing his undershirt.

"I think we've met before." Tom replied. "A long long time ago."

"Well, glad you came back, I could use the business these days." Quark said.

Tom sat there and after a couple of drinks, the whiskey bottle was almost completely gone. He wasn't drunk, maybe a little buzzed. He was returning to his old ways, get drunk; be an ass, then wake up with a hangover.

"Quark, I have a question for you." Tom started. "If you tried so hard to save someone you cared about over and over and it never works, what would you do next?"

Quark stared at Tom. "Probably kill myself." Quark joked.

"That is an option, but I'm not willing to take it…at least not now." Tom said with a somber face. Quark looked at Tom oddly again.

"Though I would love to keep taking money from you, I think you've had enough." Quark grabbed the whiskey bottle, but so did Tom.

"I don't think I have." Tom stated.

"Well _I_ think you have." Quark replied. They both held onto the bottle each pulling it towards themselves.

"And I still think I haven't." Tom said.

The two fought over the bottle for a bit longer trading insults in the mean time. Eventually, someone had called Odo who came running into the bar along with several other security guards. Tom knew that he probably wouldn't stand a chance against a shapeshifter, let go of the bottle. Quark was still pulling the bottle which flung him backwards making him hit the other liquor bottles behind the bar. Tom stood up and ran up the stairs to the second level of the bar. Odo and the security guards chased him up the stairs, right on his heels.

"Q, if ever, now's the perfect time to save me." Tom yelled.

Tom was on the second level of the Promenade now. But he apparently didn't run fast enough, because soon he was tackled to the ground. Odo was about to say something when everything went white. Then Tom was on his stomach on the second level of the Promenade, but no one was around him, except Q.

"Now who says I'm not there for you?" Q asked. Tom stood up and brushed himself off.

"Time to go save Dax." Tom said. He began to zip his jacket up as he walked down to the first level of the Promenade.

"You're drunk; do you really think that's a good idea?" Q asked as he followed Tom.

"I'm not drunk. And besides, if I were drunk, then I would be open to more ideas. I don't see any problem there." Tom replied. "Besides, I have good intentions."

"Don't good intentions take you humans to the darkest of places?" Q asked.

"Yep." Tom answered. "And I have no problem with that."


	5. Chapter 5

**How To Save A Life**- Chapter 5

Tom Paris kicked the side of the wall. He had tried to kill Dukat the second he transported on board. But that just ended up with Dukat eventually killing Tom and later Jadzia. Every time he tried, Tom just couldn't kill Dukat.

Then Tom decided to see if he could get the Medical team to Jadzia faster, it didn't work. Every time he tried, someone died. This of course did not go well with Tom. He was beginning to get very very angry and frustrated. He had been up for almost 40 hours now, and that wasn't working to his advantage.

"I'm going to need all of the reports of all of the aliens Voyager has met." Tom said to Q. "I want to go through every single species the Federation have come encounter with. Then I'm going to want to look through all of the species the Klingons and Romulans have also encountered."

"Okay." Q replied. He snapped his fingers and forty padds appeared next to Tom.

Together they were sitting in Jadzia and Worf's quarters looking at their computer. Tom grabbed one of the padds and began to read it. He was unbelievably tired, but that didn't matter, he **had** to save her.

"I know why you're doing this Paris." Q said to Tom. _Always so mysterious…_Tom thought.

"Doing what?" Tom asked.

"Trying so hard to save Jadzia." Q answered. He stood up and walked over towards where Tom was sitting.

"I would try this hard for anyone." Tom replied.

"No, I don't think you would." Q stated. "There's something different about Jadzia."

"There's something different about everyone, Q." Tom said and continued to read. "I would try this hard to save anyone. From the loneliest crewmember to Harry to the Captain to B'Elanna. Hell, maybe even Chakotay."

"No, there's something different about your relationship with Dax." Q added. "You love her don't you?"

Tom put the padd down on the table in front of him. "What?" Tom asked.

"That's why you're trying so hard!" Q said louder. He hit his hand against the table. "It's so obvious, you love her! You always have."

"I've known her since I was a teenager, she's a great friend." Tom replied squirming on the couch because he was beginning to get uncomfortable.

"No, there's definitely something more between you two." Q pushed the subject. "And I highly doubt you would be up for more than forty hours straight for some random crewmember. Harry and B'Elanna I would believe, but the Captain…you might, but that's all."

"See, those are all great friends, except B'Elanna is more than just a friend." Tom responded. "Now, drop the subject and help me."

"No, I'm not going to drop it!" Q said. "You love her, admit it!"

"Q you're wasting your time-" Tom started getting rather annoyed at Q.

"Admit it!" Q interrupted. He continued to yell at Tom and eventually he broke him.

"Fine!" Tom yelled. He stood up and was in Q's face. "I'm doing this because I loved her. I _used_ to love her. But I don't anymore!"

"Then why are you trying so hard?" Q asked calmly knowing he would get the answer.

"Because every time I fall in love with someone, they die!" Tom answered. "And each time I have a chance to save them, but I can't! Do you understand, Q? I'm doing this because I want the trend to stop. Odile died at Cadlik Prime and now Jadzia's about to die because of Dukat. I could've save Odile, but I didn't. I have the chance to save Jadzia, but it's not working!" Tom's eyes began to water.

"I love B'Elanna." Tom continued. "I love her more than Jadzia and Odile put together, but every time I tell someone I love them, they die. I don't want her to die! We're on Voyager, we're in the middle of nowhere and the only person that can protect B'Elanna immediately is me. And I'm worried that I'll fail like I have with Odile and eventually with Jadzia. I don't want B'Elanna to die, Q. That's why I'm trying to save Jadzia. I'm doing it because I want Jadzia to live, to survive this stupid curse I have on me."

"As the Earthlings say, Paris, 'life isn't fair'." Q said.

"Yeah, well, no one told me it was going to be this cruel." Tom replied then sat down on the couch again. He picked up the padd he was reading earlier and began to read it again.


	6. Chapter 6

**How To Save A Life**- Chapter 6

_**Voyager**_

B'Elanna Torres was staring at the view screen in awe. On it was her boyfriend, Tom Paris, practically pouring his heart out. She didn't really pay much attention to what he said after "I love B'Elanna." She knew he cared for her deeply, but didn't think that he loved her. Tom never said anything and now she knew why.

"Captain, we _have_ to get this off the view screen." Chakotay said interrupting the silence. "This is his private business."

"Agreed." Janeway simply stated, still looking at the viewscreen. "But we've been trying for several hours, and I don't think we can do it."

"Captain, maybe you, B'Elanna, and Harry should take a break, you've all been up for almost two days." Chakotay whispered to her. Janeway didn't move, didn't say anything.

"No, Chakotay, we need to help him." Janeway replied. "I want all available personnel to look over reports of different species. Get Seven up here; I want her knowledge on different species the Borg have encountered. We're going to help him, Chakotay; he'll get home faster that way."

_**

* * *

Deep Space Nine**_

Tom Paris and Q were still in Jadzia and Worf's quarters. Tom was still looking over different reports on species. He and Q hadn't spoken for nearly an hour since Tom yelled at him. But Q, of course, didn't enjoy silence.

"How long were you and Jadzia together?" Q asked.

Tom had to think for a moment. "A little over a year." Tom replied. "If you want to be exact…I started dating her the summer before my sophomore year at the Academy which would be before her senior year."

"Why did you break up?" Q questioned. Tom was obviously a little annoyed that Q was asking questions this personal that he hadn't discussed with anyone.

"She was graduating and I still had two years to go." Tom answered simply. "We thought it would be best to break up since we would be apart for long periods of time."

"That's a rather poor excuse." Q said.

"And that's why we never really had closure on our relationship." Tom responded.

_**

* * *

4 Years Ago…**_

Tom Paris, newly released from prison was walked out of the shuttle that had taken him to the station. Stadi, the pilot of the shuttle, had told him which Docking port Voyager was located and they split ways. He looked around at the large station, it had been awhile since he was away from prison and he was going to enjoy it to the fullest extent. Tom wasn't looking where he was going and literally ran into someone else. But Tom was able to grab the person before they fell.

"I'm so sorry." Tom started, but stopped when he realized who he was talking to. The woman stared back at him in amazement.

"Tom?" She asked; completely ignoring the man, Commander Sisko, standing next to her asking if she was alright.

"Hey Jadzia." Tom replied. "Long time no see."

"You could say that." Jadzia responded. She began to hug Tom and they didn't stop hugging for awhile. "Oh, Tom, this is Commander Benjamin Sisko, he runs the station. Benjamin, this is Tom Paris."

"Hello, I'm guessing you're here for Voyager." Sisko said. He and Tom shook hands for a bit.

"Yes, I'm the 'observer'." Tom replied smiling. There was silence among the three of them, beginning to get somewhat uneasy.

"Well, I should let you two get reacquainted." Sisko said, breaking the silence. "It was nice meeting you, Paris; I hope you enjoy your journey."

"I'll try to, sir." Tom responded smiling. Sisko left after Jadzia, also said goodbye.

"Follow me." Jadzia said, practically ordering, and grabbed Tom's hand.

Jadzia lead Tom over to the turbolift. They got into the turbolift once it arrived. There were only a few others in the turbolift also, but soon they left, leaving Tom and Jadzia all alone. The second the doors closed, leaving only the two, Tom dropped his duffel bag and he and Jadzia began to kiss feverishly.

They continued to kiss for a long period of time as the turbolift made its way to where Jadzia's quarters were. But then it stopped suddenly and the doors opened to reveal Kira Nerys waiting there. Tom and Jadzia stopped kissing and went to opposite sides of the turbolift to make room for Kira, both were obviously embarrassed. Kira herself was also embarrassed and didn't really look at either one.

"Kira, this is Tom Paris." Jadzia said a bit timidly. Kira was a bit surprised that Jadzia spoke and nodded towards Tom. There was an uneasy silence between the three. "Umm, I would prefer, if you don't say anything to anyone, yet. About what you just saw that is."

"Oh, it's no problem, I won't say anything." Kira replied hesitantly.

The turbolift stopped at Jadzia's level and she motioned for Tom to follow her. Tom nodded towards Kira and grabbed his bag and left. Before the turbolift doors closed, Jadzia said something to Kira, so Tom couldn't hear.

"I'll explain everything later." Jadzia smiled and then left.

After they got to Jadzia's quarters, Tom dropped his bag again. They made love to each other in her quarters and once more again twenty minutes later. Once, they finished that, both were getting dressed in their clothes.

"Do you want to continue our relationship, Tom?" Jadzia asked. That made Tom stop dead in his tracks.

"I…I don't know." Tom replied.

"We can talk about it once Voyager gets back." Jadzia said.

"Okay, it's due back at the station in two weeks." Tom responded. "But I still have to talk with the parole board afterwards."

"I'll come with you." Jadzia stated. "If you don't mind that is."

Tom smiled and kissed Jadzia on the lips softly. "I don't mind you being around me at all." Tom answered. They kissed again and together left Jadzia's quarters. Both were thinking of whether or not to continue their relationship…and both were leaning towards 'yes'.

_**

* * *

Deep Space Nine (Present)**_

"I can't believe you and her still aren't together." Q said in amazement. "I saw what Jadzia was like when I first visited here and you and she seem to…as you Terrans say 'click'."

"Well, now I 'click' with someone else." Tom replied smiling then went back to looking through the different species the Federation had encountered.

There was silence again between the two of them. Soon an hour had passed and Q was again beginning to get fidgety. Tom had been through five more reports and was running his hand through his hair for the umpteenth time. Suddenly, Tom stopped and had his hand still in his hair.

"Holy crap." Tom whispered.

"What?" Q asked interested. Tom didn't answer. "What, what is it?"

"I figured it out!" Tom said louder.

"Figured what out?" Q asked.

"I figured out how to save Jadzia!" Tom yelled.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: **Alright, sorry for the wait, but it'll be worth it. And there's going to be a mention of a _Next Generation_ episode in this chapter, but it'll be explained easily.

**How To Save A Life**- Chapter 7

_**Deep Space Nine**_

"You figured out how to save her?" Q asked.

"That's what I just said!" Tom asked. He was happy and the excitement overwhelmed him. Tom walked over to Q and showed him the padd he was reading. "On Stardate 43957.2, the Enterprise encountered-"

"Picard's Enterprise?" Q interrupted.

"Yes." Paris replied, annoyed by the interruption. "Anyway, they encountered 'John Doe', an alien that was evolving, but some of his fellow aliens called him an escaped prisoner."

"What the hell does that have to do with Jadzia?" Q asked.

"I'm getting to that." Tom responded. "This 'John Doe' can heal people. He healed Worf when Worf had no vital signs! If I can get this 'John Doe' guy in to see Jadzia right after she died, he can save her!" Q looked at him oddly for a second then back down at the padd. "Every single time I've tried to save Jadzia, someone has died. So if I can get that guy to save her _after_ she died, then everything's fine!" His logic was flawed, but Q didn't point it out.

Q continued to look at the padd. He was thinking of whether or not to let that alien come to the future and help them out. Tom looked at Q angrily.

"Do not take this away from me, Q." Tom said to Q. "I found a way to save her. Sure, it requires going back in time a few years and grabbing an alien then wiping an alien's memory, but it's not like you've never done that before."

"It's worth a shot." Q replied.

Q snapped his fingers and he and Tom were on board the USS Enterprise-D. They were on the Bridge of the Enterprise, in front of a majority of the Senior Staff, including Captain Picard. Picard was talking to the 'John Doe' and another alien, when he looked over and saw Q.

"Do you try to make a scene?" Tom asked Q.

"Q!" Picard yelled. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Oh, Picard, you can't tell me you haven't missed me!" Q replied. He walked over to the 'John Doe' alien and Q put his hand on the alien's shoulder. "I just came here to borrow you're buddy for a few moments." Picard was about to open his mouth, but Tom spoke up instead.

"Q, you obviously know the Captain isn't going to just let you have him." Tom started. "So put your fingers together, snap them, and let's get out of here."

"And who the hell are you?" Picard asked looking at Tom.

"Temporal Prime Directive can't tell you that, sir." Tom replied. "Now, let's go."

"Fine, ruin my fun." Q responded. "Well, nice seeing you again, Picard. I'll be seeing you soon…" Q snapped his fingers and Tom, 'John Doe', and Q arrived back on Deep Space Nine.

"You always ruin my fun." Q said to Tom. He now was holding 'John Doe' by the arm, making sure he didn't wander around.

"Now's not the time to have fun." Tom replied.

'John Doe', afraid for his life, tried to get Q's hand off of his arm. He was attempting to escape the two people that had kidnapped him. He was able to get Q's grip off of his arm and grabbed Tom's chest with his other hand. Since 'John Doe' could save people easily, he could also kill them just as easily.

"What the-" Tom started.

Soon his chest began to glow and pain shot out throughout his body. Tom screamed out in pain, but couldn't move his body at all. Soon Tom stopped screaming and 'John Doe' removed his hand from Tom's chest. Tom's body fell to the floor, motionless and not breathing.

"Gods damn it…" Q said. 'John Doe' tried to pull the same stunt on Q, but it didn't work. "Now you ruined his plan and we'll have to start all over…"

Q snapped his fingers and 'John Doe' disappeared. "Hey Helmboy, wake up!" Q said and nudged Tom's body with his foot.

Tom's hand moved. Then his head moved as well. He turned himself over and looked up at Q.

"What happened?" Tom asked.

"You died…again." Q replied.

"Where did our 'friend' go?" Tom asked.

"I sent him back to the Enterprise." Q answered.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Tom yelled as he stood up. "He was our only shot at saving Jadzia!"

"Calm down, Helmboy, we'll go back and get him." Q responded. "Only this time we'll explain why we're taking him _before_ we actually take him."

"Then let's go." Tom replied.

Q stared at Tom for a second or two. He was deciding whether or not to continue this obviously emotional drain on Paris. "Fine, we'll go." Q said finally.

Once Q snapped his fingers, Tom and he appeared in the Enterprise-D's Sickbay. There were several people in the room, including 'John Doe'. 'John' was sitting on a biobed, frozen in time along with the other people in Sickbay. Q snapped his fingers again and 'John' began to move.

"What's going on?" 'John' asked Tom and Q who moved next to where he was sitting.

"My name is Lieutenant Tom Paris." Tom said to 'John.' "We're from the future, 8 years in the future to be exact. As you can tell, everyone on this ship is frozen in time, so we can take as long as we want. We need your help, you see, my best friend is about to die at the hands of a cold blooded murderer. Could you please help us save her?" The alien was silent. "Please?" Tom asked again.

The alien stayed silent, while Q was getting very annoyed. "I will help you." The alien finally replied. Tom opened his mouth to say something, but Q interjected.

"Great, now, let's get going." Q interrupted.

Q snapped his fingers and the three appeared back on Deep Space Nine. They appeared in an empty room with a tube that contained Jadzia's body inside. It was almost time for the service to begin, so Q snapped his fingers again and time froze.

Tom and 'John Doe' walked up to the tube. Tom opened it up to reveal Jadzia's dead body inside. It was covered by a teal sheet that covered most of her body. Tom looked at 'John Doe' after looking at Jadzia for a couple minutes.

"We have all the time in the world, so, take your time." Tom told the alien.

'John' nodded and put his hands on Jadzia's body. A glowing light came from his hands, increasing their hopes for her survival. Tom watched anxiously, hoping this would be the last time he would have to see Jadzia dead. The alien's glowing light continued for one more minute.

"How boring…" Q muttered.

"Shut up." Tom muttered back to him. At that moment, Jadzia took a breath. The alien removed his hands from her body. "Jadzia, can you hear me?" Tom asked. Jadzia made a noise and babbled something incoherently in response.

"He did it." Q said amazed.

"He did it." Tom repeated.

"Well, since he did it, now all you have to do is do it all over again without screwing up the timeline." Q said to Tom.

Tom turned around and looked at Q angrily. "What the hell are you talking about?" Tom asked.

"Did you even stop to think what life is going to be like now that Jadzia is alive instead of dead?" Q countered.

"Yes, it'll be better." Tom replied.

"For you, maybe, but for others, not so great." Q answered.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: **There will be somewhat heavy spoilers for season 7 of DS9. Just a warning.

**How To Save A Life**- Chapter 8

"What the hell do you mean by that?" Tom Paris repeated his previous question. Q snapped his fingers and everyone except for Tom and Q froze.

"You should know better than anyone that actions have consequences." Q replied. "Just because you think it'll be great having Jadzia alive doesn't mean that it actually will."

"Oh yeah, then tell me, what the hell is going to happen if Jadzia lives?" Tom responded and crossed his arms over his chest. Q snapped his fingers again, though nothing visibly happened. "What did you just do?" Tom asked, but Q didn't reply.

_**

* * *

**_

"What just happened?" Captain Kathryn Janeway asked her Bridge crew. The visual of Tom Paris and Q on Voyager's viewscreen disappeared.

"I don't know." Harry replied. "It just disappeared."

Janeway looked at Chakotay. "Q?" She asked.

"Q." He responded.

_**

* * *

**_

"What I am about to tell you…I'm not supposed to." Q told Tom. "The Q continuum can not know and neither can your precious crew."

"How're you keeping this from the continuum?" Tom interrupted.

"Long story and it won't be long until they can hear me again." Q replied. "So stop interrupting and listen up. When Jadzia dies, Sisko thinks he's failed as Captain and as Emissary. He leaves the station and stays at his father's restaurant for three months. With the help of _Ezri_ Dax, he's able to get the wormhole to reopen while also finding out he's part prophet. Worf and Ezri end up sleeping together and unwillingly find out that the Breen have joined the Dominion in the fight against the Federation, Romulans, and Klingons. Ezri and Worf decide not to get married because she's in love with that doctor fellow…Bashir or something. With the help of the Cardassians, the Federation stops the war with the Dominion. Then Odo leaves to go be with this people and Sisko leaves his now pregnant wife to stay with the prophets. After of course he threw Dukat into the fire caves possibly killing him."

Tom opened his mouth to talk, but Q stopped him. "Don't talk, just listen." Q said. "If Jadzia survives, then all of that will be screwed up beyond belief. Sisko will have never thought he failed as Captain since Jadzia wouldn't have died. That causes the wormhole not to be reopened for at least ten months. He'll have never have found out he was part prophet, Ezri and Bashir will have never fallen in love, and the war will have lasted five more years than it should have."

"And then of course there's what will happen to Jadzia and Worf." Q continued. "They'll stay married, of course, but will try for three years to have a baby. Once Jadzia does get pregnant, she'll have a miscarriage…twice. That takes a devastating toll on them and they only try every once in a while to get pregnant, unsuccessfully. Worf gets offered a position in the Klingon High Council, or whatever, after the war is over and he and Jadzia part ways, but stay married. They see each other often, but not as often as Jadzia would like. Even though they stay together for the rest of their lives, they don't have kids, their adoption requests get turned down because of how far apart they both live and some other reasons. Do you really think Jadzia would have liked that, Tom?" Tom didn't answer.

"Just because you want this to happen doesn't mean it's good for the long run." Q answered the question himself.

Q snapped his fingers, this time making the alien disappear and the casket that held Jadzia's body was also closed. Unbeknownst to Tom, the image of him and Q on appeared on Voyager's viewscreen again. At the same time the Q Continuum could again monitor Q's conversation, though they were too busy dealing with other matters to listen to them.

Tom was quiet, but he didn't stay that way for long. "If you took me through this just to say that you won't let this happen-" Tom started.

"Oh no, I will let you save her, I'm just telling you what will happen if you do save her." Q interrupted.

Tom thought for a long time. Almost two hours had gone by, probably better used to sleep, but to Tom, sleep wasn't an option. He had asked Q a few questions breaking the silence throughout those two hours.

"What if…what if I tell Jadzia to do…certain things that would alter the timeline a little closer to what it's supposed to be like?" Tom asked Q after their two hours of silence.

"It will be closer, but don't forget the fact that she'll have two miscarriages, can't adopt any kids, and her marriage will deteriorate." Q replied.

Tom didn't say anything and they returned to the silence. "I want to talk to my sister." Tom said to Q.

"What?" Q asked in somewhat disbelief.

"I want to talk to my sister." Tom repeated. "My sister Moria. She and Jadzia were best friends and I want to talk to her."

"You do know I'll make it so she can't remember talking to you, don't you?" Q asked Tom.

"I understand, but I want to talk to her…now." Tom said.

"Fine." Q responded. "We'll go talk to your sister. Before or after Jadzia's death?"

"After." Tom answered. "The day after she found out. She'll have cooled down a bit so she'll actually be able to understand."


	9. Chapter 9

**How To Save A Life**- Chapter 9

_**Earth**_

Q had snapped his fingers and he and Tom Paris arrived on Earth. They were inside his sister Moria's home, the one person he thought could help him decide on whether or not to keep Jadzia alive. Suddenly, they both saw a shadow on one of the walls, it was coming towards them. Two people came around the corner, Moria's husband and a little boy, whom they assumed was her son. The two walked right past Tom and Q, not noticing them at all. Tom and Q then followed them into the kitchen where Moria was.

"Well honey, I'm going to take little Tommy here out for a visit with my parents." Moria's husband, Duncan McCormick, said.

"'Little Tommy?'" Tom whispered to Q.

"Okay, how long will you two be gone?" Moria asked, she seemed rather sad still, but she smiled in front of her son.

"The whole day, leaving you to have some time." Duncan answered.

"Thank you, Duncan." Moria responded. She kissed Duncan on the lips then 'little Tommy' on the forehead.

"Bye bye Mommy." Tommy said innocently with a smiled.

"Bye, baby." Moria replied and returned the smile, though hers was forced. "Don't forget to say goodbye to Uncle Tom. Bye Duncan."

"Bye, honey." Duncan responded then left the room with Tommy in his arms.

"She can see me?" Tom asked Q.

"No you idiot, look." Q pointed to a picture of Tom on one of the table stands. Duncan and Tommy went over to the picture.

"Bye bye Uncle Tom." Little Tommy said and kissed the picture of Tom. Duncan also said goodbye then the two left the house.

Q snapped his fingers and suddenly he disappeared, or rather the opposite. Tom appeared to the normal eye while Q was still invisible. Moria had sat down at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee in front of her. He walked over to Moria and stood next to her.

"You named your kid after me?" Tom asked Moria.

"Of course I did." Moria replied. "You've been gone for so long and only recently has there been _any_ contact with Voyager. When Tommy was born, you had been lost for almost a year. It seemed like the obvious choice."

Tom shook his head in disbelief. "Thank you, Moria." He said and sat down in the chair next to her.

"Wow, I didn't know ghosts could sit in chairs." Moria muttered.

"You think I'm a ghost?" Tom asked.

"Or a spirit. I don't know, Tom." Moria responded. "You're out in the middle of the Delta Quadrant, anything could have happened to you between the time when your EMH stopped by and now."

"I'm real." Tom said simply. "Flesh and blood. Q brought me here."

"Why would a letter of the alphabet bring you to say 'hello' to me?" Moria asked sarcastically.

"Q's something we call a higher level being, he can snap in and out of anywhere and will let you change things." Tom replied. He was trying to no avail to explain who Q was. "He's real, Moria."

"And you claim you are, too." Moria said then took a sip of her coffee. "Then prove it."

"With what?" Tom asked. "Do you want me to tell you the time when Mom caught you sneaking in after three in the morning, but she let you slip? Or how about the time when I caught you kissing Kathleen's boyfriend when they were still dating?"

Moria looked at Tom with her eyes narrowed. "I never told Kathleen that. Tom was the only one who knew." Moria stated.

"I know, I never told anyone because you promised to do my homework for a month." Tom replied smiling.

"It is you." Moria said in disbelief. Tom nodded. "Oh my gods, Tom!" She practically screamed then lunged herself onto Tom. She hugged him hard to the point where breathing wasn't an option. After a few seconds and some gasping breaths, Moria let go. "I can't believe it."

"Well, believe it. But I'm not here to just say 'hello', I wanted to ask you for your help." Tom replied.

"Did you get in trouble again, little brother?" Moria asked.

"No. Why is it every time I ask you for your help, you think I'm in trouble?" Tom added.

"Because every time you're in trouble, you ask me for help." Moria answered. "Think about it." Tom thought for a couple moments.

"Oh…" He replied. "Well, anyway, I need your help."

"Fine, shoot." Moria said.

Tom was about to say something when Moria's gaze went from directly in his eyes to over his shoulder. He looked at her oddly and asked her what was wrong.

"Well, Mom and Kathleen were supposed to come over today." Moria responded.

"Oh…when?" Tom asked.

"They were _supposed_ to come today around noon…but they got here early…like yesterday early." Moria answered.

Tom then turned around realizing what Moria was looking at. In the doorway to the kitchen were his mother and oldest sister. Tom immediately stood up from his seat and offered to his mother. His mother seemed so much older than she did the last time he saw her.

"Here you go, Mom." Tom said somewhat silently motioning to the chair. Kathleen and his mother just stared back at Tom, not sure if it was really him or not.

"It's really him." Moria spoke up. "It's really Tom."

Kathleen and Mrs. Paris gasped as soon as Moria said that. They continued to look at him, and then at the same time, they yelled, "Tom!" and ran at him. The two hugged Tom tightly and wouldn't let go.

Things had just gotten a hell of a lot more complicated than before.


	10. Chapter 10

**How To Save A Life**- Chapter 10

_**Earth**_

"Wow." Tom's mother said quietly. "That's what that alien said to you?"

"Yep." Tom replied.

Tom Paris had just explained to his mother and his sisters, Kathleen and Moria, the pros and cons on letting Jadzia live and also letting her die. While his sisters and mother were sitting at the small table, Tom was pacing around behind each. He didn't want to sit down, for fear of falling asleep. That was why he was on his third cup of coffee…and it had only been one hour since he arrived.

"Tom, maybe you shouldn't be drinking that much coffee." His mother, Maggie, said. "It's not good for you."

"I've been awake for a long time, mom, I just need a little boost." Tom replied.

"How long have you been awake?" Maggie asked concern obvious in her voice.

Tom thought for a second. "That doesn't matter." He answered.

"Tom" Maggie started in a more forceful tone. "How long?"

"I don't know…I haven't kept track, mom." Tom replied looking at his mother.

"Thomas Eugene Paris, I know when you are lying to me. Now tell me, how long?" Maggie asked.

"Fine. I've been up for roughly two and a half days." Tom answered. "Can we get back to the point?"

"You're no good to Jadzia like this, Tom." Kathleen said. "Go to sleep, I'm sure that letter of the alphabet can wait."

Tom shook his head. "No, I want you guys to help me figure out what to do." Tom said. "Then I'm going to go back to Deep Space Nine and do it. After that, I'm going home."

"I don't think Q will let you stay here, Tom." Moria said. "He seems somewhat devious."

Tom looked at each one for a second. "I meant Voyager." Tom murmured. "Voyager's where I belong."

"You can't be serious." Kathleen started. "You're here now and this Q person is willing to take you from DS9 back to here. This is your home, you have a chance to help dad specify where Voyager is and hopefully start a communication between the ship and Earth. You could do so much more stuff here than you can on Voyager."

"But it wouldn't be fair." Tom replied. "I didn't have the best of luck on Earth. If I came back when there are people on Voyager that have husbands or wives and kids, it just wouldn't be fair."

"Tommy, life isn't fair, just come back and stay with us." Kathleen said.

"I'm not going to talk about this. We have to get back on topic." Tom said with frustration in his voice.

"I say let her live." Moria spoke up. "If you can save her, go for it."

"If saving Jadzia means her having a miscarriage and her marriage fall apart, I think you should let her die." Maggie said. "I couldn't imagine living after losing any one of you before you were born, let alone two."

The three of them looked at Kathleen who had gone quiet since her mini-spat with Tom. Kathleen looked back at the group and shrugged.

"I don't know." Kathleen murmured. "I'm stuck in the middle, I'm sorry Tommy."

Tom offered a small smile. "It's alright." Tom said. "I know the feeling. Well, I better go."

"Go? So soon? But we've barely gotten the chance to talk." Maggie said standing up.

"Mom…it's just not fair. Besides, I think I know what I'm going to do." Tom replied.

"I don't care about fair!" Maggie started with a raised voice. "You keep saying that it's not fair to your crew, well, did you ever realize that's it's not fair to us Thomas? We thought you were gone forever, but now you're alive. We just want to talk to you Tom."

"I know Mom, I know." Tom answered. "But you aren't going to remember this at all, none of you will. I have to go now, mom, I'm sorry."

Tom started to leave after hugging his sisters and his mother. Though all of them continued to protest his leaving, he waved goodbye to all of them then walked out of the door. Q appeared next to Tom after he closed the door behind him.

"I want to come back here after I deal with Jadzia." Tom said to Q as they continued to walk away from the house.

"I can't let you talk to them." Q replied.

"I know, but can I least tell her that I'm alright?" Tom asked.

"Paris, as much as you might want to, I can't let you." Q answered. They stopped on the sidewalk outside of the house, facing each other. "Are you ready to leave?"

Tom looked at the ground then at Q. "Yeah, let's go." Tom responded. Q snapped his fingers and they were back on the Promenade of Deep Space 9.


	11. Chapter 11

**How To Save A Life**- Chapter 11

_**Deep Space Nine**_

Tom Paris was standing on the Promenade of Deep Space Nine. Next to him was Q who was leaning against the wall. There was no one walking around them, everyone was frozen in place. Jadzia was half way between the stairs and the Bajoran shrine.

"I know what I'm going to do." Tom said to Q.

"Good, what is it?" Q asked.

"I know what the right thing to do it." Tom started. "The right thing to do is to let her die."

Q looked at Tom with only a tiny bit of surprise. "You're going to let her die?" Q asked.

"It's the right thing to do." Tom replied and then he looked at Q, offering a small smile. "But I don't always do the right thing."

"Wait, what?" Q asked.

"I'm going to save her." Tom answered. "I'm going to save Jadzia. If letting her live makes the Dominion War last longer, imagine what will happen if I tell her what to do! If one person can make that drastic of a difference…I think they're worth keeping around."

"What?!?!?!" Q asked raising his voice.

"You said that even if I could tell Jadzia everything, she would still suffer from the miscarriages, right?" Tom said.

"Yes, but-" Q started.

"Are you going to let me tell her what she should do or are you going to force me to let her die?" Tom asked.

Q stood there looking at Tom straight in the eyes. He had been in so much trouble with the Q council recently that he was jeopardizing his powers to coming here and helping Paris. Why was he doing it? Because he felt like it and also because Q wanted to give the finger to the council saying that he didn't really care what they thought, even though he actually did, he just didn't want them to think that.

But the real problem was that Q expected Tom to let Jadzia die after learning of the terrible consequences that would befall the war with the Dominion. The two things that the Q preached were: Don't provoke the Borg and to keep the Dominion war as it is. Q had to think, if Tom Paris kept Jadzia alive and had told her the specific things that needed to be done, would the end _really_ be that different than what it should have been?

"Q, are you okay?" Tom asked. "You're kind of giving me the creeps."

"Why do you humans seem so simple, but turn out to be so god damn complex?" Q shot back. Q looked away from Tom for a second, and then looked back. "I will tell you what you need to tell her. She'll remember you, but if she utters a word about seeing you, then she's dead."

Tom nodded his head. "Got it." Tom replied. "Can we get this started?"

"Fine." Q said and then snapped his fingers, yet nothing happened…at least on Deep Space Nine. Back on Voyager the viewscreen went back to black, Tom's face disappearing.

"Why do you keep snapping your fingers and nothing happens?" Tom asked.

"It's not important, don't worry about it." Q replied. "Are you ready?"

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be." Tom answered. Q snapped his fingers and the people around them began to move. Tom was now in the process of saving his best friends life.


	12. Chapter 12

**How To Save A Life**- Chapter 12

_**Deep Space Nine**_

Tom Paris started to walk over towards Jadzia. It wouldn't be too hard to distract her from going into the shrine if he just walked right past her. She'll probably think he's a changeling. Then he'll quickly run away and hideaway in her quarters until she arrives and then they'll talk.

He walked away from Q who had now disappeared and Tom himself became visible. As he walked quickly towards Jadzia so many thoughts rushed through his mind. He started to realize that he probably wouldn't make the run from her to the turbolift in one piece, let alone to her quarters. He got closer and closer to Jadzia who was not paying attention to the man walking towards her.

"Hey Jadzia." Tom said calmly to her as they passed each other and then he grabbed her by the arm. He turned her so she was now walking beside her.

"What-" Jadzia started.

"Be quiet." Tom interrupted. "If you say or motion anything to anyone, you're going to die."

"Tom?" She asked.

"Be quiet." He reiterated.

They continued to walk and eventually they made their way to the turbolift. Once they got in, Tom called for the deck her quarters were on. The ride to that deck was dead silent, which was somewhat unnerving to Tom. The turbolift stopped at Jadzia's deck, they stepped out and began to walk towards her quarters. Once they reached her quarters, Tom sat down on the couch, leaving Jadzia standing just inside the doorway.

"I can just run." She said to Tom.

"No you can't." He replied. "It's locked."

"You never locked it." Jadzia added.

"Yeah, _I_ didn't, but someone _else_ did." Tom responded. "We need to talk."

Jadzia tapped her comm. badge. "Dax to Odo, bring a security team to my quarters immediately."

"He can't hear you." Tom spoke up. "No one can. In space no one can hear you scream..." He said that, hoping it would jog her memory and maybe realize it was him.

Jadzia backed up, hoping the doors behind her would open, but they didn't. "Computer, unlock the doors, Dax Pi Alpha Nine." Jadzia said to the computer.

"Access Denied." The computer replied, her clearance to unlock her **own **doors, wasn't enough…

After some thought, Jadzia remembered the bat'leth she owned that was hanging close to her on the wall. Tom continued to look at Jadzia in the eyes, and then saw a glint in them, meaning that she was coming up with a plan.

It seemed like it happened in slow motion, Jadzia turned and grabbed a hold of the bat'leth while Tom jumped up and tried to grab Dax. Tom was able to grab Jadzia's sides, but that didn't keep her still. She turned around wielding the blade in her hands. He ducked just in time to avoid getting hurt by the blade. She kicked him to the ground and sat on top of him with the blade to his neck.

"In space no one can hear you scream!!" Tom repeated a little louder, actually starting to worry for his life.

"You're going to be the one screaming soon if you don't unlock those doors." Jadzia replied, keeping the bat'leth to Tom's neck.

"No no no…_Alien_!" Tom said. "The tagline in the movie was 'In space no one can hear you scream!' You love that movie, so do I, remember, I named my dog Bishop!"

Jadzia eyed Tom oddly. "You could've gotten that information from anywhere." She responded.

Then she quickly moved the bat'leth so that it Tom in the face. The blade only cut a small cut on his cheek, but it bled at the least. Jadzia started to look at the end of the blade that had some of Tom's blood on it. She waited and waited for it to turn back into parts of the changeling, but it didn't.

"It's really you." She said quietly. "That can't be right."

"Q brought me here." Tom started. "He brought me here to save you. That's why we need to talk."

"This isn't real." Jadzia said.

Tom moved a hand up on his cheek to cover the small cut to make sure it wasn't as big as he thought it was. "Believe me, it is." He replied. Jadzia shook her head. "Can…can you get off of me now? You're kind of sitting on my lung."

Jadzia looked down then got off of Tom immediately. "Oh, sorry." She answered. Jadzia stood up and put the bat'leth back on the wall.

"Talk about old times…" Tom muttered as he stood up, still holding his hand over his cheek.

"What do you mean save me?" Jadzia asked.

Tom sighed. "You're going to want to sit down for this…" He said.


	13. Chapter 13

**How To Save A Life**- Chapter 13

_**Deep Space Nine**_

"You did _what_??" Jadzia asked. Tom Paris had just told Jadzia Dax everything that he had gone through and everything she needed to know. "You decided to save my life and that means that some Bajoran would die in my place?!?! Go back, Tom, go back!"

"What, what do you mean?" Tom asked.

"Go back in time and let things happen like they're supposed to. I don't want a Bajoran to die when I was the one who's supposed to die." Jadzia replied.

"But it took me so long just to get to this point…" Tom started.

"Tom, I want you to go back and just let me die." Jadzia interrupted. "You can stop time or whatever you do right before I'm about to die and say goodbye to me. But I don't want that man to die when I should be the one dying."

"You can't be serious." Tom said.

"I am, now go." Jadzia replied then gave Tom a hug.

After Jadzia and Tom stopped hugging Q stopped time. He and Q, who had made himself apparent, appeared on the Promenade. Time was still stopped and Tom looked at Q with obvious dismay.

"All of this for nothing." Q said with a small smile.

"No, not for nothing." Tom muttered.

"That's right, now you know that even if you could save her, she wouldn't want it." Q added.

"No, I'm going to save her again." Tom replied. "Just, this time I'm not going to tell her."

"Are you serious?" Q asked.

"Completely. Now let's get to it." Tom answered.

Q snapped his fingers causing time to start again and making him disappear. Tom waiting for a little bit, making sure that this was the right thing to do. Then after a few seconds, he walked towards Jadzia and began to go through it all over again.


	14. Chapter 14

**How To Save A Life**- Chapter 14

_**Deep Space Nine**_

"You did all that for me?" Jadzia asked Tom Paris.

Tom had told Jadzia all of what happened over the past two days. All of it, of course, except for how he decided to not to honor her request of just letting her die. They were sitting on the couch in Jadzia and Worf's quarters.

"Yeah, but now I have to tell you what you have to do." Tom replied.

"What I have to do?" Jadzia questioned.

"Yep and you have to listen really closely." He said. "First off, you can't tell anyone I've been here, if you do, then Q says he'll kill you."

"Oh…I can't even tell your family?" She asked.

"Not even them." Tom answered. "Next, when Sisko comes back and finds that the prophets have abandoned him, you have to tell him to take a vacation and goes to help out at his father's restaurant. Then after about three months, go and visit him and if he's about to leave for some random place, go with him. Make sure he leaves and later you follow or else everything is going to be screwed up beyond belief. Got it?"

"Understood." Jadzia said and nodded, though a small smile formed on her face since she was saying 'understood' to someone whose rank was below hers.

He also had a small smile on his face; it was fun to be back together again, like old times. "And when you get pregnant with Worf's kid, go to that Doctor of yours every single day. In fact, make it twice a day. Four times if you're sick." Tom added.

"Why?" Jadzia asked, her smile disappearing.

"It's a long story, just…trust me." Tom replied. "Oh, crap, I almost forgot. Don't you think that this station needs a counselor?" He didn't even wait for a reply. "Right before you leave to go see Sisko after that three month hiatus, hire a counselor-in-training, Ezri Tigan."

"You want me to get a counselor-in-training to be the chief counselor here?" Jadzia asked.

"You gotta believe me…she and that Doctor of yours are going to fall in love." He replied.

"Really?" Jadzia said then smiled. "That's so sweet. Is that all?"

"Um, yeah, I think so." Tom answered smiling.

"I can't believe you did all of this." She repeated. She looked down at her hands then back up at him. "Do you ever wish you said 'yes'?"

Tom looked at her right in her eyes. "What makes you think that?" He asked.

"Well, you did all of this just to save me and are telling me so many things to keep everything in line, when you could have just let me die." Jadzia replied. "So that's why I'm asking if you wish you had said 'yes' instead of 'no'."

Tom didn't respond for a second or two. Of course he had regrets from the second he said 'no' and to this day. But he was with B'Elanna and she was with Worf, so things had been better for each of them.

_**

* * *

11 Years Ago**_

Tom Paris and Jadzia were still going strong after one year of dating. They had a small age difference between them of two years, but it didn't matter at all to them. But there was still one problem that was looming: Graduation. Jadzia would be graduating from Starfleet Academy in less than one month and would soon be assigned away from Earth.

Since she was going to be leaving soon, Tom and Jadzia started to make every last moment count. They went out with each other every possible chance they got and were seen everywhere with each other. They were practically inseparable. That's why it wasn't odd to see them out walking through the Academy courtyard in the middle of the night.

The couple were holding hands and talking sweetly to each other. They smiled at each other, smiles reserved just for them and no one else. Tom and Jadzia sat down on one of the benches in the courtyard and looked at the buildings around them.

"I can't believe I'll be leaving soon." Jadzia stated with wonderment in her voice.

"I'm going to miss you." Tom said to her and kissed her.

"I'm going to miss you, too." Jadzia replied and kissed him, only this kiss lasted longer. "You know, I've been thinking…" She started, but then stopped.

"About what?" He asked with a warm smile on his face.

"I know that the man is usually the one who says this, but I was wondering if you would like to…marry me." Jadzia said with a nervous smile on her face.

Tom's face turned from happiness to some form of terror. He was only twenty and getting married at his age would practically take the fun out of life. All he wanted to do was enjoy life, but the prospect of marriage this early on scared him. "Uh…" Tom replied.

"'Uh'?" Jadzia echoed.

"I'm…I'm really sorry, but…no." Tom said finally.

"Oh, well, it's…its okay." Jadzia replied putting on a fake smile and hiding the pain she had lying beneath the surface.

She stood up and turned away from Tom. Jadzia began to wipe away tears from her eyes that were slowly falling. He stood up and put his hand on her shoulder which she pushed off with her hand.

"I…I'm sorry." Jadzia said and then started to walk away.

"Wait, no, please…don't go." Tom yelled after her. He started to run to catch up to her.

Jadzia turned around quickly and when Tom was in front of her she spoke quietly. "I shouldn't have asked, I'm sorry, but we can't…we can't be together anymore." Then she turned around again, but this time she ran.

This time, Tom was left standing in the middle of the dark courtyard realizing that he had made one of the biggest mistakes of his life. He stood in that spot until the sun started to come out. Slowly, he walked back to his dorm room thinking of all the pain he had caused Jadzia and eventually to himself.

After one month, Starfleet Academy was over. Jadzia had graduated and within two days, she had left for her first post. Tom didn't go to the graduation or even talk to Jadzia ever since they broke up, a fact which he regretted every day of his life. He, on the other hand, was at one of the graduation parties with some of his friends when he saw a woman whom he thought was gorgeous. The two of them talked most of the night as well as danced to some of the songs. Before the girl left, Tom made sure to get her name…her name was Odile and she told him where she would be while school was on break so if he felt like visiting her, he could.

_**

* * *

Deep Space Nine (Present)**_

"Of course I have." Tom said after the pause. "Do you ever regret asking?"

It was Jadzia's turn to think, but hers was not as long of a pause as Tom's. "No." She responded. "If I didn't then we would've been together longer than we had, making it harder for each of us to find other people."

"Like B'Elanna." Tom murmured.

"Who?" Jadzia asked.

"Oh, well," Tom said starting to blush slightly. "she and I are…dating."

"Sounds like a Klingon name." Jadzia remarked.

"She's half-Klingon half-Human." Tom replied.

"Do you love her?" She asked.

He nodded and smiled. "Yeah, I love her…I love her a lot."

"That's good." Jadzia said and gave Tom a small hug.

"Do you love Worf?" Tom asked.

She gave Tom a big smile. "I'm completely in love." She replied. There was a quiet between the two for a short time. "Don't you think its ironic how we both fell in love with Klingons?"

"Incredibly." He answered immediately and smiled at Jadzia. "I guess I should get back."

"They're probably worried sick, and you look horrible, go get some sleep." Jadzia said then gave Tom a quick kiss on the cheek and then hugged him. "Thank you."

"Anytime." Tom replied and hugged Jadzia back.

After the hug ended, Q paused time. He appeared next to Tom who, of course, was able to move around.

"See, everything's done, let's go back to Voyager." Tom said to Q.

"You said the two of you broke up because she was graduating, what's all this business about you saying 'no' and her asking a question?" Q asked.

"We broke up because she was graduating. That's all." Tom replied. "Can we go home, now?"

Q looked at Tom for a few seconds, considering whether or not he should ask more questions or not. "Fine, let's go." Q said then snapped his fingers.

**

* * *

Author's Note- **One more chapter after this! I want to thank everyone for reading and everyone who reviewed, all of the reviews made my day. Thank you so much! 


	15. Chapter 15

**How To Save A Life**­- _Chapter 15_

_**Voyager**_

Tom Paris appeared back in his quarters on Voyager. He looked around, realizing that his quarters were put almost perfectly back in order. Eventually, his eyes rested on B'Elanna, whom was lying on the couch, fast asleep. Tom smiled and walked over to her and woke her up.

"Hey." Tom said to B'Elanna stroking her hair. "How are you?"

"You're back." She replied then hugged Tom. They held each other for a few seconds, then B'Elanna let go of him and looked him in the eyes. "Who is she?" She asked referring to Jadzia.

"Who?" Tom asked.

"Jadzia, who is she and why were you trying so hard save her?" She questioned.

"How'd you know?" Tom countered.

"Q put most of what was going on on the viewscreen." B'Elanna replied. "So, who is she?"

Tom looked down and then back up at his girlfriend. "How much time do you have?" Tom asked.

"All of the time in the quadrant, now, who is she?" She persisted.

After a few more seconds of silence, he began to talk. Tom told her everything about what happened between him and Jadzia starting from the moment the two had met. The whole conversation took almost an hour just to get through the details and then came the rest of the conversation as to why Tom tried so hard.

Tom Paris went to bed that night with the love of his life next to him. He went to sleep knowing he had saved a dear friend's life, but at the same time let a complete stranger die. Tom had played God over those few days, dictating who lived and who died. It made him realize that the role of interstellar god wasn't for him, but in his heart, he knew he had made the right choice.

_**

* * *

Earth (10 Years Later)**_

"Miral, please, put the cup down." Tom Paris told his six year old daughter. He was crouching in front of his daughter, whom was sitting on the floor. "It's daddy's cup, please put it down lightly."

Miral Kathryn Paris shook her head and continued to play with her father's cup. She had already 'accidentally' broken four cups in just two weeks and this one, her father's favorite, was a gift from an alien species that was back in the Delta Quadrant.

"Maybe you should bargain." Came a woman's voice from around a corner. The woman, Jadzia, walked around the corner holding the hands of her eight year old twins.

"Why not have Tanas and Tavana play with her?" Tom asked and stood up. He walked over to Jadzia and hugged her. "That way, the cup won't break and the twins can have someone else than each other to play with." The twins had already left their mother's hands when they saw Miral. They started to play with the girl and eventually ran out of the house, thankfully leaving the cup intact

"Where's your wife?" Jadzia asked as she picked up the cup.

"Probably putting Charlie down for a nap." Tom replied, speaking of his three year old son, Charles Harry Paris. "You can go see him, if you want. I'm sure he wouldn't mind getting to see Aunt Jadzia before going to sleep."

"I think I'll do that." Jadzia said and handed him the cup.

Jadzia left the kitchen and walked through the hallways of the four bedroom house. She walked through the corridors and eventually found Charlie's bedroom. B'Elanna was sitting on a chair next to Charlie's bed, reading him a story. B'Elanna turned around and smiled at Jadzia who was standing in the doorway.

"You made it." B'Elanna said and stood up. She walked up to Jadzia and they hugged. It was a somewhat awkward hug because both of them, were pregnant, both thanks to fertility drugs.

"Yep, Worf will be along in two days, just in time to let the men and the kids go out on that hike." Jadzia replied.

"Leaving us to some peace and quiet." B'Elanna finished and then they smiled at each other.

It had been over six years since Voyager returned to Earth. After everything had been cleared up with the Maquis and Tom Paris, almost everyone returned to their lives. Some stayed in Starfleet, others left to do other jobs or get back to their families. Jadzia Dax and her husband Worf had brought her then two year old Tanas, her son, and Tavana, her daughter, to meet their Uncle Tommy as Tom was used to being called now.

And it was almost all because Tom decided to play God and fought to have Jadzia live. The Dominion War was almost as bloody as anyone could've imagined, but the outcome was apparently the same. Q didn't return to say that all of Tom's fighting was in vain, in fact, Q had only appeared one other time, but he and Tom had pretty much no contact.

The two families had gotten along great, but there were some difficulties in the beginning. B'Elanna, though she knew Tom loved her more than anyone except for their family, wasn't too comfortable with the fact that an old lover and he were still extremely close. After a year or so, B'Elanna was used to Jadzia's family to come for a visit and eventually, the two hit it off and became good friends. What had happened ten years ago wasn't discussed at all between Tom and Jadzia, but B'Elanna and Jadzia had made small comments here and there to each other. The good news was that even though one person died, a woman was alive, twins were born, and another child was on the way.

_**The End**_


End file.
